SECTION THREE
GETTING YOUR WORK OUT INTO THE WORLD
CHAPTER 12
DEFENDING YOUR WORK
You’ve completed your research. You have the insider’s advantage, and after applying what you’ve learned about your genre, your material is ready to be pitched. Now is when you’ll need to think like a potential buyer.
As mentioned earlier in this book, there are individuals who read and evaluate projects for publishers, production companies, studios, networks and web sites, who develop content in their respective fields. When you see your project from their point of view you’ll begin to understand fully how to defend your work. So what’s the best way to go about getting to the insider’s view of these threshold guardians and what they might be looking for? Here are some questions you may encounter while you go through your journey to move your project out into the world, along with some resources to assist you. Remember that if you are self-publishing your manuscript (fiction or nonfiction) or producing your film/TV series/web series independently, it is also imperative that you have these questions answered. Somewhere along your path you’ll need to obtain financial assistance and/or distribution for your material. Many of these questions and scenarios will apply and you’ll need to defend yourself within that DIY scenario as well.
SOME BASIC QUESTIONS TO PONDER
In Chapter 4 I explained the basic questions every development exec asks when evaluating material, and those questions are worth repeating again. They are:
Why make this project?
Why make this project now?
Who cares?The research you have gathered from Chapters 6 through 10 provide you with the basic answers you’ll need to defend these questions. For instance, with the “Why make this project?” question, go to the lists of previous texts that have experienced success (and cult) status in your genre. It has been proven that everyone loves a good mystery novel, a horror film, or romance novel... by that I mean, these genres are not going anywhere. There is a base audience for your project. You’ll use the lists of films, books, TV series, and web series that you’ve gathered to prove that your genre is solid. And while it is not the best move to begin your pitch or query with “my movie is this movie meets that movie” or “my book is this book meets that book,” you might find that sometime during your pitch/query you’ll mention some aspect from another well-known text in your genre in an organic manner.
Most execs are over the “this meets that” type of pitch, so definitely never begin your pitch/query in this manner. This is information to have in the back of your head to back you up — and to show that you know your genre.
As far as the next basic question “Why make this project now?” — you are also prepared to answer that, as you have completed running the history on your genre. Here is where you’ll bring to the forefront your knowledge of the trends and patterns within your genre. You can also gauge generational and cultural changes in the recent past to defend why your idea would work in the future. And this is where you introduce your new version — the new traits, the spin, the reason why your authentic version will be ideal for this particular production company, publisher, network, etc., to produce now. And so, there you are, telling the potential buyer why your idea is perfect for the spirit of the times and that it needs to be made — now.
And finally, the question “Who cares?” As mentioned in Chapter 4, you’ll need to know your audience. You’ve written a new vampire novel — who will care? Everyone (or a good percentage of those) who read Twilight. And why? Because your spin, your authentic version, captures the imagination of a particular group of readers (notice I didn’t say “will capture” —always pitch as if the audience has already embraced your idea), and then jump into your new traits and the new version that will attract that Twilight base along with others in your targeted audience. Make sure you have an answer for this one and remember that just because there may be a group of individuals who study your subject matter, you must be able to provide percentages and statistics showing that that same group also BUYS books, ATTENDS movies, WATCHES television series, etc. And I know you are passionate about your projects, however the bottom line is what happens business-wise. Look to financial reports — box office reports, ratings, and bestseller lists — for this info.
BECOMe YOUR OWN PRIVATE DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT
I mentioned previously (in Chapter 10) that you may need to ask yourself if you are intending to introduce or follow a new trend. In order to intelligently address that question, you’ll need to know the landscape of the market you are about to navigate. So, how do you do that?
You do that by becoming your own private development
department.
In the past, while folks developed ideas for the original studios and networks discussed in Chapter 1, they didn’t have access to any information about what the other competing entities were developing. In fact, projects in development were kept in complete secrecy and no one knew about them until they began to be promoted for the upcoming “New Fall Season” and/or Holiday or Summer Box Office schedule. Gradually, through some sneak previews for movies and pilot and premiere episodes for TV series, the public started to know what the new content was, but up until that point, everyone was in the dark.
Not so today. Today you have no excuse as a great deal of this information is available via industry dedicated websites and accompanying e-newsletters. And most of these resources are free or available at a reasonable fee, you only need to sign-up or subscribe.
For information about book projects — recently signed and published digitally or traditionally:
nathanbransford.com
janefriedman.com
the-millions.com
publisherslunch.com
writersdigest.com
goodreads.com
therumpus.net
thenervousbreakdown.com
pw.org
pred-ed.com
digitalbookworld.com
thebookseller.com
kirkusreviews.com
bookexpoamerica.com
For information about feature film projects signed and in development:
deadlinehollywood.com
hollywoodreporter.com
variety.com
hollywoodwiretap.com
wifv.org
imdb.com
donedealpro.com
inktip.com
scriptcity.com
boxofficemojo.com
the-numbers.com
For information about projects signed and in development for TV:
deadlinehollywood.com
programminginsider.com (go to adweek.com and click on newsletters to subscribe)
cynopsis.com
cynopsis.com – digital
cynopsis.com — kids
For information about projects for web-based content:
cynopsis.com — digital
Access this information daily. Follow your specific media and genre. Make a note of not only the buyers and producers, but the agents and managers who have negotiated the deals.
You’ll track your similar projects during the next few months, possibly years, to see if they actually get made or not. You will also use this information within your pitches as you defend your work as many (if not all) of the potential buyers you’ll be pitching to and querying are also following these web-based resources AND also know about projects they are involved with that are not made public. So you may come up against a question within a pitch that asks “Are you aware that Grand Central Publishing just made a deal with such-and-such author for her second literary fiction novel?” and you would be able to say yes. You’ll impress the potential buyer with your knowledge of insider industry news. This is also your opportunity to jump in and state WHY your idea is better than or more appropriate for that publisher to purchase.
Arm yourself with as much information possible to defend your work. Know your competition and know how you will answ
er questions about that content. Having this awareness places you in the best light with potential buyers. This also ensures that you are not one of the clueless types who decides to write a particular piece of content and stays sheltered in their parents’ basement or their own attic away from their kids and refuses to gain knowledge about what the marketplace is yielding. They go to pitch and are shocked when potential buyers look at them and laugh. No idea on its own is great enough to sell without knowing the marketplace you are selling it within.
SOME DEEPER QUESTIONS TO PONDER
Continuing to navigate the marketplace as your own personal development department assists you when you are asked questions such as the following:
Timeliness elements —
How will your project resonate to audiences a year to 18 months from now?
How will your project continue to resonate to audiences 5 years out? (In other words, is your project “evergreen” material that the company will reap the benefits from year after year. Another way to answer this is to see your project listed as a quintessential text or, at the very least, within the list of top ten in its genre.)
How does your project fit into the current landscape (with current trends) and do you see it becoming a trend if it is not following along with other trends?Generational/Society elements —
Will all generations and attention spans want to read/watch your content? If not, why? (Defend this by explaining that you are seeking out only a specific part of the audience, which may be appropriate for some projects).
Is there a current trend in society or with a specific generation that supports your idea? Provide evidence of this trend with accompanying print/web articles and social media forums.
Is there something about your content that might offend a part of society or a specific generation?Additionally, there may be casting questions (for film, TV, and web-based projects) and budgeting questions for material that features exotic locales, period piece scenarios, or spans decades of time. At this point, don’t worry too much about those specific questions, as it is the story that is important. Content is king; all other budgeting issues and casting elements can be negotiated and resolved once the project is purchased.
EXERCISE
Testing your idea until it is foolproof
To test your idea, run it through the Basic Cable menu within your local cable provider’s list. (Even if you don’t have cable, you can access Time Warner, Comcast, Charter’s Basic Cable menu through their websites.) Take your idea and imagine how it would play and be promoted on NBC, then how it would look if it were produced by BRAVO, or ESPN, or LOGO, etc. This seems like it might be a lot of unnecessary work, but it isn’t and here’s why. By doing this exercise you’ll be taken out of your comfort zone. For the entire duration of this method so far you have been working with honing and defining material within a specific genre. Now I’m asking you to explore your idea beyond the way you see it within its format and push the limits of the idea. Oftentimes you’ll find areas within your storyline/general theme/plot that need to be developed that you didn’t even think of or were aware of. No need to spend hours doing this, just a quick look. Jot down any thoughts that come to mind as you do this. You’ll be surprised —pleasantly surprised.
If you are averse to cable networks, then go to Amazon or a Netflix menu and run your idea through all of the different genres. Imagine what your vampire novel might look like as a western, as a creative nonfiction entry, or as a sports book, etc.
Navigate the marketplace, record information about your genre and similar projects, continue to track and comb the necessary resources, and you will be ready to defend your work.
Use The Writer’s Advantage to the best of your ability. Arm yourself. Be prepared. Onward!
CHAPTER 13
WHAT MASTERING YOUR GENRE CAN DO FOR YOU
Mastering your genre is power. At the beginning of this book I discussed how audiences have short attention spans, are fragmented, and that there are generational differences throughout the transmedia marketplace. The result has been, in recent years, a somewhat broken, discombobulated, and disconnected collective consciousness.
LIKE-MINDED AWARENESS
Writing with The Writer’s Advantage and utilizing the Genre Toolkit List elevates your awareness of your project(s) and how you present yourself within this arena. Your pitch and selling materials, including your loglines and synopses, will be based on research and facts, and enhanced with your enthusiasm. Gone are weak scripts and manuscripts that are based on one-dimensional ideas. Additionally, clueless “Stormy Weather” deliveries and pitches of said material are also gone. Instead of remakes, reboots, sequels and prequels, original authentic material permeates the marketplace once again and writers, development execs, producers and agents alike recognize the new idea enlightenment. Presenting authentic material will attract like-minded people who are looking for those authentic ideas.
Along with the raising up of a whole new collective consciousness filled with authentic ideas, your content resonates accordingly. This happens whether you honor your existing genre as it is or bring something new to the table by presenting a game-changer element, a spin on the genre, or offer up an exciting new sub-genre. You’ve mastered your genre, now it’s time to move your good work out into the world.
You are also aware of how your content will appear within this marketplace knowing that you may be writing a novel that will eventually appear as a TV series or feature film, or you may be writing a reality TV franchise that could easily be edited into webseries segments. Understanding how your content will spread across all platforms gives you an advantage for potential sales in all transmedia platforms.
As you prepare your material to be shopped within this marketplace, continue to access the e-newsletters and websites suggested in Chapter 12. I have mentioned throughout this book about those writers who work with blinders on or in their attics and basements without any awareness of the world around them. When they emerge to present their work they are shocked that someone else has just sold a project that mirrors their own. If they had been monitoring these sources, they would have known about this material being picked up and could have 1.) altered their project so it would not be competition to the other piece, or 2.) put the project on hold for a while until it feels fresh again.
ALTERING
A couple of years ago a student of mine wrote an epic tale of a young girl who sets out on her path to destiny within a dystopian society, only to learn that she must fight her way to the top of her kingdom in order to obtain the wisdom of her elders who were, in fact, a race of superior Amazon-like women. The manuscript’s first five to six chapters were similar to The Hunger Games — an almost identical plot. The writer’s work was superb, well researched, brilliant. He had been crafting this epic tale for nearly a decade and was ready to go out with it right after The Hunger Games appeared on the scene. We had to discuss his selling strategy because editors would clearly see this resemblance and either disregard the work or consider it — if good enough — to be a project that could be sold in the shadow of the now-iconic Hunger Games. The writer continued to receive rejections. His manuscript was just too close in execution to Hunger Games. What to do next? He decided that he worked too hard and too long on the project to just give it up, so he went the self-publishing route. Armed with determination and knowledge of the marketplace, he earned a small following by starting out with a group of young readers at his local library. Those readers and the local librarians told other readers and other librarians (librarians can be very influential) and the book found its readership.
PUT IT ON HOLD
Another student of mine had written a solid animation script about talking cars. The writer worked on this script for nearly a year, researched the market very well and determined that cars had never been awarded personalities and voices in an animated fashion. He was just about ready to shop it when I read that
Disney and Pixar were developing a project about, well, just that — animated cars with personalities and voices — the movie Cars (2006). The writer had to put that script away and move on to the next one, which was the best move he could make. He would have looked like an idiot going in and pitching an animated movie about cars after this project was announced.
TOOLS YOU’LL NEED TO SELL YOUR AUTHENTIC TEXT(S)
Many in the industry consider the buying-selling pitching scenario to be a big game and in a way, it is. Essentially, if you think of it in that way, you’ll be more relaxed when you do begin to email, call, and pitch your project to industry buyers. In order to continue to prepare yourself, you’ll need two essential items in addition to all of the great research and background information you already have about your genre. You need to compose a logline and a synopsis.
LOGLINE
Your logline must be in place before you begin to talk to anyone about your project. Think of your logline as a way to explain your project without giving away too much information. It is an important item because you want to intrigue and entice the potential buyer with it. The logline should be one or two solid sentences in length.
Begin with your main character (if you have a piece that features an ensemble, begin with them; e.g., a group of friends at a reunion), then add the basic scenario that character(s) find themselves in and introduce the pending conflict or doom they’ll need to resolve.
The Writer's Advantage Page 13